Telling good stories is good for Guelph

This week, the Guelph Chamber of Commerce organized a panel discussion on promoting Guelph businesses.

I was joined on the panel by Doug MacMillan from the Letter M Marketing who spoke about the importance of goods news stories and promoting a positive community image. Al Horsman, our Executive Director, Finance and Enterprise highlighted how the City is doing business differently while Janet Roy, Chair, Guelph Chamber of Commerce focused on what business needs. I spoke about promoting Guelph’s strategic advantages and the need to understand our place in the world.

What resonated with me from this discussion was the need to tell good business stories and stories in general about Guelph. Why are stories so important? We are in a crowded market space with stiff competition. Being able to tell compelling and successful stories certainly helps to set Guelph apart from other comparable cities and position us well for attracting talent, jobs and investment.

I believe stories help to define and reinforce the identity of our City. In the words of Gord Hume “A city is not just about bricks and buildings, cops and kids, pipes and playgrounds. Great cities have an identity, sometimes even a global brand, providing a powerful belief around which locals can rally.”

Now more than ever, we need to understand our unique City identity. Marketing of that identity is a part of successful city building and building economic and community prosperity.

How are we going to do this? What came clearly out of the discussion was that one of the greatest assets of our City is collaboration. We work together. We plan together. We advocate together. We are connected. So let’s build on that. A collaborative marketing and communications approach is where we will find our best answers.